Hi,
In 1985 there was a little competition held at Morningside FP in of all the unlikely places - N.H. ( it ran several years, I'm sure some of you know it.) As it happens it proved to be the back drop for a great hang gliding story. As pilots we all know the thrill, fear, tranquility and comaraderi of this amazing subculture, but nobody else does. Every person that ever lived has gone to sleep at night and had that dream where they fly. Even if they never make it to the hill, they know the siren that beckons them. And guess what? For some reason no one has made a movie that shows this sport the way the non flying public needs to see it. Look at the movie wedding crashers. The term hang gliding comes up and the pilot who passed away is referred to as an idiot or some such derogatory term. Don't get me wrong it was a funny movie, but that wasn't and it makes the point that peolpe haven't seen into this world. Its not that I want to convert everybody I just know they would enjoy it from the safety of their theatre seat. Case in point check out the hang gliding ride at the big theme park - the bean counters missed that indicator of how much people would be interested in a hang gliding movie.

Okay so I flew a bunch of years ago and was haunted from the moment I stopped flying until I wrote Hang Dogs. Then 21 years later I show up at morningside with a camera to do some test shots. As time passed Jeff kept asking why I didn't fly anymore and soon enough he managed to get me back in the air.

One reason no one makes hang gliding movies ie, feature narratives as opposed to docs is that the sport seems to be declining and hollywood bean counters think the target audience is too small. Two things are flawed in this thinking. 1) You do not have to play football to enjoy the story line of Rudi or Bicycle race to enjoy Breaking Away. And it stands to reason that hang gliding would be no different 2) Whilst we might feel very special as free flight pilots we have to remember most people are attracted to concept of flying and there is over 107,000 pilots in the U.S. alone (commercial powered craft).

Now I've shot some test footage, put a very modest teaser up on youtube. And I have one indy action feature under my belt and I'm making this movie. I haven't talked to any bean counters yet but I have done my homework. Job one is to create a viral marketing campaign. each pilot emails 20 people and begs them to go to the youtube link, view the teaser ( Hang Dogs ), leave a nice comment about how much they would like to see the film made and then they each email 20 people and so on. I need 100,000 hits to get noticed. Now If every hang glider pilot in this country did the viral thing that then that would be about 120,000 views.

All I seem to hear these days are that statistics on the median age of hang glider pilots is rising. This is a great sport/way of life and I for one am making a movie about it and this will work if we could get every pilot out there to support this. I've been working with Jeff, Steve and Rhett out of Morningside, great pilots! My name is Peter Shanelaris (Petros Tsanlaredes) I fly a WW sport 2 ( a little rusty still, it's been a long time.) I promise I will make a film that we can all be very proud of and film that will make the big screen and give hang gliding the positive image it deserves. In Tae Kwon Do their comes a time when we no longer train for ourselves but now work for the sport itself. I believe I can help give something back to the gift of flight that was given to me. I sure could use your help.

Thanks,
Peter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dVQKtgsMng

---

I think it could work. I added a couple of positive comments

Man, this is good.

The dialog sucks though. So stilled. I like the left/right thing though.

"You're a hang dog now?" Please!

I liked the basket ball scene and the long hair thingy.

I'll promote more.

See the Wind?

Jeez.

I like the afraid of heights thing.

See it in your eyes?

Bird in you?

I liked the "You started after me…" thingy.

The flight sequences show great promise.

The "It's not the fall that kills you?" Close but not quite.

www.hangdogthemovie.com doesn't exist.

I loved it. All of it. Of course it's not great literature. It's a coming of age story following a fine tradition of those movies. When I bring up the youtube, it comes up in a language I can't read, so I'm having trouble leaving a comment. Any help on this issue?
Gary

Davis:

www.hangdogthemovie.com doesn't exist.

It's: http://www.hangdogsthemovie.com/home.html
I also like the trailer better on the website without any dialogue. You can download the trailer and watch it on a bigger screen in QuickTime, VLC, etc: http://www.hangdogsthemovie.com/images/aquicktimeHANGDOGS-takeoffs.mov It plays great. Let's find this producer some funding!

---

I didn't like any of the dialog. It was cheesey. Very embarrasing. The girl's hot but too may clothes. Excellent flying footage. Why's he being taught by a porn star?
I'd really like to see a film of "Cloudsuck" or focussing on the Suchanek (old school, "Use the Force Thomas, use the Force", basic instruments etc) Rhumer (analytical Austrian) dual. Samuel L Jackson could play Davis.
Pete

This is such a great idea! Please, by all means, keep this idea alive!

The scenes were great! It has to have lots of airshots, lots!!
I so hope I can watch this at a theather someday!

Have you figured out the total cost of such a production?
Anyway, congratulations on your effort!

Good luck!

Definately a step in the right direction. I like the idea, sure some of the lines made me cringe, cheesy yes, but we are used to that from american film, and I think it actually makes good satire, without demeaning the sport. After all it is very difficult to demean this sport, and as we are used to cheesy story lines anyway, we might as well get some good flying action in as well.